Six months in
Six months in, Pepper’s mostly house trained, although we need to keep an eye on her, she still, on occasion, will go in the house. Especially if it’s been cold out in the morning, and she didn’t want to stay out. But, once she’s gone outside, we can trust her for the day.
We don’t leave her alone in the house outside her crate, she’s mischievous enough that wouldn’t be a good idea. Didn’t have to worry about our Old English Mastiffs after they grew up on their own, but I’m thinking this little girl isn’t going to be able to be trusted to not get into things on her own. Just too much energy.
She’s generally really well behaved, good at all her basic commands, great with people (working on jumping up will be a continuing challenge), and is great 1-1 with other dogs, but often gets really shy at the dog park, or other gatherings. We’ve kept a really close eye on her, given how active she is, but we’ve never had a problem with her destroying anything. Of course, the house has toys everywhere, and she’s always got at least 2 choices of chew toys at any time.
She’s also really good about not getting on furniture. We have one couch she’s allowed on, if we’re on it, and invite her up. That rule only gets broken if we have a dog visitor who doesn’t have the same rules about not getting on furniture that we do.
Certainly a very different experience from a larger dog. She’s still got a huge amount of energy, and when she wants to play, just doesn’t stop. Also when we have a doggie play date, she’ll keep going at the other dog, trying to get it to play with her, long after she, and the other dog, are exhausted. So, we often have to crate her, just so everyone can get a rest. After meeting older Bostons, I’m guessing that’s just how it’s going to be with this little girl.
She makes us laugh every day though. Goofy, happy, bouncy, then sleep. That’s the routine!
Nov 15 2010